


The Green Eyed Monster

by MalSpinningYarns



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Jealousy, Multi, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-04-25 05:39:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14372097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalSpinningYarns/pseuds/MalSpinningYarns
Summary: Oliver walks in on Percy and Penelope kissing and he has some things he needs to work out about himself.





	1. Oliver

**Author's Note:**

> This is a slight departure for me as I don't often do relationship angst... we'll see how it goes! 
> 
> As always, not Brit-picked or beta'd, so I take full responsibilities for mistakes. I do not own these characters.

Oliver Wood was not jealous.

 

Why would he be jealous? He only walked in on his roommate Percy Weasley snogging Penelope Clearwater. It was just shock. Who wouldn’t be shocked walking in on your best friend and roommate snogging someone you didn’t know they were dating? Right? _Right?!_

 

It was definitely awkward when it happened. Oliver bounded up the stairs to his dorm room after the first Quidditch practice of the year (the _actual_ first practice, not the one where the Slytherin tossers took over the pitch and Ron ended up vomiting slugs). He was in good spirits. The team looked _fantastic_ this year; it was certainly their year. His mood immediately changed when he burst into his room to see Percy kissing Penelope. Shock set in first, then embarrassment when Percy and Penelope realized they weren’t alone. They immediately stepped away from each other, like their current distance could trick Oliver into believing he saw nothing. All three of them were turning as scarlet as the Gryffindor’s house colors.

 

“Sorry. Sorry,” Oliver mumbled shutting the door behind him. He didn’t want to be _those sixth years causing drama_. Everyone thought he and Percy were weird enough already. “I didn’t know anyone was here. I just came to grab my homework.”

 

Percy straightened himself out, despite his face still being as red as his hair. “It’s quite all right,” Percy said stiffly, “I think we just, um, lost track of time.”

 

“We were studying earlier, I promise,” Penelope said with an awkward smile.

 

“Yeah, of course,” Oliver said uncertainly. He looked over to his own bed and starting walking over there like he was trying not to frighten two startled animals. “I’m just going to grab my stuff and leave you two to… whatever you were doing.” He quickly threw his Charms homework into his schoolbag and rushed over the door.

 

“Oliver, wait!” Percy said just as Oliver’s hand touched the doorknob. Oliver stopped. Percy walked over to him. He looked like he was struggling to find the right words. Then, he spoke quietly: “I would, um, appreciate if you kept this a secret just between the three of us. Penny and I aren’t exactly ready for this to be public yet.”

 

Oliver couldn’t say no to Percy’s big blue eyes. He clasped his hand on Percy’s shoulder and smiled. “Of course, mate,” he said, “Your secret is safe with me.”

 

Oliver left the room and groaned against the staircase wall. There was a weird pit in his stomach that he could tell wasn’t embarrassment. He could admit that, surprisingly, Percy looked like a good kisser. At least Penelope seemed very receptive. Oliver wondered how long they had been together. It certainly seemed like they had a lot of… practice. Percy seemed very knowledgeable and confident about what he was doing and his lips looked very kissable when he was begging Oliver not to tell. _And there was that feeling again._

 

Oliver couldn’t deny it anymore: he was jealous.

 

Sometime in fifth year, Oliver looked at Percy and realized “Oh, fuck, I think he’s attractive.” It hit him like a rogue bludger to the head. Percy wasn’t doing anything special; he was just sitting on his bed, looking intensely at his homework. Oliver tried to shake it off. He really did, but he quickly realized girls didn’t do it for him. There were things he could appreciate about girls- especially if they were good Quidditch players like Angelina, Katie, and Alicia- but he wasn’t attracted to them. So he decided to hide his feelings as much as he could. When Fred and George talked about what girls they found attractive in the locker room, Oliver just ignored them. When girls tried to flirt with him, he played oblivious.

 

Oliver could understand what attracted Penelope to Percy. Just because he wasn’t attracted to girls didn’t mean he was blind. Penelope was attractive: tall, slim, with long, curly blonde hair. He heard some of the crude comments from other boys when she walked past; he usually glared at them for their unchivalrous behavior, especially if they were fellow Gryffindors. They never rankled her exterior however. She walked with a confidence and grace that was uncommon for most teenage girls. Oliver thought he once heard Penelope mention her mother was a former Muggle prima ballerina. Her father was some sort of academic and she had clearly inherited at least some of his smarts. She was a year below Percy and Oliver, so he had no idea how well exactly she did in class, but she was still a Ravenclaw prefect- one of the hardest houses to earn that title- so she must have something going for her in that department. She was an ideal match for someone like Percy who had such strong ambitions.

 

What stung more than the jealousy was that Oliver was beginning to think Percy might be like him. He had shown no previous interest in girls. He never said anything in private about girls he fancied. Unlike other boys, his eyes never seemed to linger on Madam Rosmerta. Once Oliver had come out of the shower with just a towel wrapped loosely around his waist and he could have sworn he saw Percy blushing.

 

It also bothered Oliver how different Penelope was from him. She was a feminine as he was masculine. While she rarely spoke and when she did it was always observant and well articulated, Oliver was a loud-mouthed, unobservant jock. Almost everyone told him that if Snape suddenly started tap-dancing to Celestina Warbeck in Potions, he wouldn’t notice because his nose would be too buried in his Quidditch playbook.

 

Oliver tried not to let the Percy and Penelope bother him. If Percy was gone longer on prefect duties than he normally would, Oliver tried not to think about it. Luckily, he had Quidditch to distract him. He had to think of a way to combat the Slytherins’ Nimbus 2001s. Then, the attacks on Muggle-born students- and Nearly-Headless Nick- began and things turned to shit.

 

First it was just caution. One student petrified could be a cruel, cruel joke. Every few years there was a student who went too far to scare others. Two students and a ghost was a pattern. A _very_ concerning pattern. Two more students was cause enough to take extreme precautions.

 

Oliver fumed when Quidditch was canceled. He was angry that he couldn’t prove how good his team was. It was their year to win! It just wasn’t fair. They shouldn’t be punished for a giant monster on the grounds. He sulked around his room until Percy came flying in the dorm in a panic.

 

“Penny’s been petrified!” Percy cried. “And Hermione Granger!”

 

Oliver’s stomach dropped. He’d only known that two students had been petrified- he didn’t know who. Hermione was in his house! She was around him a lot during meals by virtue of being friends with his Seeker and his roommate’s younger brother. They weren’t close- she didn’t care much for Quidditch- but Oliver still thought she was a nice girl who didn’t deserve to be petrified. His relationship with Penelope was much more complicated. He didn’t hate her. He couldn’t. She was nice enough to him and she made Percy happy. However, he was jealous of her. That didn’t mean that she deserved to be petrified though.

 

Percy appeared to be near tears. “Oh, Perce, I’m sorry,” Oliver said, putting a hand on Percy’s shoulder, “Are you OK?”

 

Percy shook his head and- in a surprise move- hugged Oliver. At first, Oliver was slightly taken aback as Percy had never been the most physically affectionate of the Weasleys, but he quickly put his arms around him.

 

“Hey, it’s all right,” Oliver whispered while Percy sniffled into his shoulder, “They already have a plan to unpetrify everybody. It’s just going to take a little time. And they’ll figure out what’s happening.”

 

Oliver kept whispering anything he felt would help Percy. At the same time, he marveled at how good it felt to hold Percy in his arms. It just felt right. He smelled like soap, parchment, and something very earthy. Then, the guilt set in when he remembered that Percy was grieving the near-death of his girlfriend. He let Percy get his emotions out and when he was finished Oliver awkwardly patted his shoulder and said something along the lines of “It’ll be OK, mate”.  

 

Eventually, they moved on with their day. As the time passed, Oliver made sure to check on Percy and made sure he did things like eat. Percy chose to bury himself into schoolwork. They operated how they usually did.

 

The days after the Basilisk was killed were… interesting to say the least. Oliver was somehow both surprised and not surprised that Harry and Ron were responsible for killing the monster. While they always found themselves to be in the middle of chaos, he was surprised they had the brains and the strength to do it without Hermione around. And they somehow managed to mess with Lockhart’s memory (which he quite frankly deserved). Oh! And Ginny Weasley had apparently been under the influence of the Dark Lord’s school diary! Crazy! Oliver blessed the Weasleys- especially Fred and George- for their inability to keep crazy stories to themselves.

 

The moment when the formerly petrified students came into the Great Hall was bittersweet for Oliver. The reunion between Harry, Ron, and Hermione was cute. The first year Gryffindors surrounded Colin and Nearly Headless Nick. The same practically happened with the second year Hufflepuff boy and his house. Percy practically bloomed when he saw Penny and ran up to meet her. He didn’t actually embrace her- Oliver figured it was because people had their eyes on them- but he looked like he wanted to. It hurt, but Oliver wanted Percy to be happy.

 

Oliver gave them as much privacy as they needed that evening. He distracted himself by flying around the Quidditch pitch. If he used the stinging wind as an excuse for his tears, only he had to know.


	2. Percy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Fred and George tell Percy that Oliver has a crush on someone, Percy needs to figure out things for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this got out of hand real quick. Because it was getting longer than the first part already, there will be a third chapter. 
> 
> As usual, this isn't beta-ed or Brit-picked.

Despite the way news normally traveled around Hogwarts, the news of Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater’s breakup took a while to go around the halls. It could have been Percy and Penny’s usual lack of public displays of affection. It might have something to do with a mass-murder stalking the castle. Who really knew?

 

It took the prefects- the group most likely to know- at least two weeks to figure out something was up. The two had been in pretty good spirits after Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw in Quidditch. It wasn’t until well into April, a couple weeks after Sirius Black’s attack on Gryffindor tower, that most of the prefects figured things between them were on the rocks. They were no longer sitting near each other at meetings and they arrived and left separately.

 

Things weren’t confirmed until Percy and the Head Girl, the Hufflepuff Audrey Bloomingfeld, were making the rounds schedule for another week.

 

“So I have you and Penny down for next Tuesday,” Audrey said as she scribbled the note on the calendar.

 

“Actually, I was thinking we should pair Penny with Robert or possibly Sebastian this week. And I could work with another one of the younger prefects to see how they are progressing,” Percy said.

 

Leaning her head on her hand, Audrey looked at Percy. “Hmm,” she said, “Is there something going on between you and Penny? You two have been acting a little weird lately.”  

 

Percy removed his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose and sighed. “We broke up,” he said, not looking at Audrey.

 

“Really?” she asked, “May I ask why?” She sounded curious, but not rude.

 

“We just kind of…grew apart,” Percy said.

 

The truth was a bit more complicated and Percy wasn’t willing to divulge that information. Penny claimed that they were spending less time together, which was a fair opinion. When Percy wasn’t obsessing over grades, schoolwork, and his life after Hogwarts, he kept a close eye on Harry Potter on his mother’s suggestion. He probably would have done it anyway because wherever Harry went, his brother Ron followed. Given the fact that there was a mass-murderer apparently stalking Harry, Ron wasn’t exactly safe. However, he tried to make time for Penny. They studied together and sometimes snogged during rounds. They also attended Quidditch games together and went to Hogsmeade. Things really changed after Sirius Black attacked Gryffindor tower. It meant that Percy’s family was in danger. Because he considered himself a great dueler, he tended to keep a stronger eye on his siblings.

 

Besides all of that, the spark that Percy and Penny previously shared dimmed. He didn’t hate Penny by any means, but he realized his affection for her was more friendly than romantic. Penny seemed to agree she was the one that actually broke up with him. Despite the fact that their separation was practically mutual, some awkwardness still remained.

 

“Well, that sucks, but it happens. You don’t have to tell me more if you don’t want to, but I’m not bad with relationship advice,” Audrey said, giving him an out, “I don’t know about your house, but in Hufflepuff I have to deal with a lot of broken hearts and relationship mediating.”

 

“No one is coming to me for that, trust me,” Percy said.

 

“Am I the only one who knows about your break-up?”

 

“You’re the first person _I’ve_ told. I’m not sure about Penny, however.”

 

“You didn’t even tell Oliver?” she asked, “Isn’t he your best friend?”

 

“I didn’t think he would care one way or the other. He generally seems to avoid talking about romantic relationships. Or at least mine with Penny.”

 

Audrey paused for a moment in thought, but changed the subject, “I think monitoring the younger prefects is an interesting idea. I’m sure the Head of Houses will want to hear some input in order to decide Head Boy and Girl next year.”

 

With that, they went back to work.

 

 

 

 

The next Friday, Percy and Felicity Simons- the other seventh year Gryffindor prefect- headed to the Great Hall as early as they could for dinner. That night they were hosting a study session in the Gryffindor common room and they wanted to get there as early as possible. Two other seventh year Gryffindors, Jaya Malik and Amanda Hoskins, joined them.

 

Percy never minded sitting with the girls. Growing up with mostly boys, sometimes it was nice to have a change of energy. At the bare minimum, it was nice to be around people with table manners for once. They were also nice to him and treated him with respect.

 

For a while, Percy just listened to the Felicity and Jaya tell him and Amanda about the drama occurring in Hogwarts’ choir. One of the younger Slytherin girls was trying to get a solo for the End of Year banquet and seemed to be willing to curse Audrey. Felicity claimed that if the girl tried, she would hex her right back. Percy pointed out that Audrey could handle herself against a fifth year. Jaya laughed and teased that Felicity just wanted to protect Audrey.

 

Suddenly, Fred and George appeared behind Percy.

 

“Why, isn’t our perfect prefect Percy,” Fred said sitting on Percy’s left side, while George sat on Percy’s right.

 

“You _know_ I’m Head Boy,” Percy sighed.

 

“We have a particular problem-” George said while grabbing some Yorkshire pudding.

 

“Concerning a particular prat-” Fred added.

 

“Mainly, our particular prat of a captain-“

 

“That you happen to preside with-“

 

“I believe the word you’re looking for is _reside_ ,” Percy interrupted, “The correct preposition for preside is _over_ and it means to occupy a place of authority.”

 

The twins ignored him.

 

“Anyway, our captain seems a bit-“

 

“Preoccupied.”

 

“Did you two rehearse this?” Felicity asked, annoyed. She wasn’t overtly fond of them. Percy gave her a look of mutual suffering.

 

“Possibly,” Fred said with a smile.

 

“We think he’s pining,” George said, turning back to Percy.

 

“Positively pining.”

 

“Over a particular person.”

 

“But we don’t know who.”

 

“You couldn’t come up with another alliterative word?” Percy drawled.

 

Again, the twins ignored him. “He’s become a lot more cross than normal,” George explained.

 

“Yeah, we pranked Alicia to change her hair every time she caught a quaffle the other day and he didn’t find it funny _at all_ ,” Fred said.

 

“Why do you think he’s pining over someone?” Percy asked. “I think he just wants the Quidditch cup. You know how obsessed he is with winning.”

 

“True,” Fred said.

 

“But he keeps looking over at the stands during practice-“

 

“With a wistful look in his eye.”

 

“What about professional Quidditch recruiters?” Amanda piped up, “Wouldn’t he be on the lookout for them?”

 

“They usually only come to games,” George said.

 

“Well, I do not think whether or not Oliver has a crush on anyone is any of your business,” Percy chided, “You two should be more worried about studying for your OWLs. You are more than welcome to attend the study session in the common room tonight. Merlin knows you need the help. ”

 

“It’s Friday!” Fred said.

 

“Who schedules a study session on a Friday?” George asked.

 

“Except Percy, of course,” Fred said with a smirk. “Oh look, there’s Lee. Let’s show him the plans for our new trick.”

 

George gladly followed his twin to sit further down the table.

 

Percy noticed Felicity also looked glad they were gone. Amanda and Jaya seemed a bit disappointed to watch them go; those two never seemed to mind them like him or Felicity and sometimes even Oliver.

 

“Do you think what they were saying is true?” Jaya asked.

 

“About Oliver?” Felicity asked. “I doubt it. He is way too focused on winning the Cup this year to notice anything or anyone else. He was making Quidditch notes in Charms the other day. But who knows? Weirder things have happened around here.”

 

“What do you think, Percy?” Amanda asked, “You live with him. Anything out of the ordinary with him?”

 

Percy thought for a moment. Had Oliver been acting weird? Well, weirder than normal? He wasn’t sure. “I don’t know,” Percy said, “I suppose I have been so focused on NEWTs and Sirius Black and everything else that I haven’t taken any particular note on Oliver’s behavior. He’s been Oliver. We’ve never exactly discussed relationships or crushes before.”

 

Amanda turned to Jaya. “Maybe we should start watching Quidditch practices to see what happens.” The two girls giggled.

 

Percy felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach by a hippogriff for some reason. To cover, he checked his watch and made a distressed noise. “Felicity, we really ought to be going if we want to ready the common room in time.”

 

Felicity raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t argue.

 

As they left the Great Hall, Oliver Wood entered with the final seventh-year Gryffindor, Heather Donnelly. The four all greeted one another. Heather and Felicity talked for a moment about something or other that Percy wouldn’t be able to recall because he was distracted by his own thoughts. Did Oliver have a crush on Heather? It would make sense. Heather’s older brother Jimmy had been on the Gryffindor Quidditch team with Charlie and was good enough to make it onto the Kenmare Kestrels, so she knew Quidditch. She had no interest in playing the game herself, however. Heather could usually be found assisting Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing. They could have become closer that way.   Oliver spent enough time in the hospital wing.

 

“Percy?” a voice said, snapping him out of his thoughts. All three of them were staring at him.

 

“Pardon?”

 

“I was wondering what you thought of potions today?” Heather asked.

 

“Snape seemed more horrid than normal today,” Percy replied. While he was raised to respect teachers, he didn’t particularly care for Snape. He especially seemed to hate Gryffindor and was critical of everyone when it wasn’t warranted.

 

“What happened?” Oliver asked. Despite getting an ‘E’ on his potions OWL, Oliver wasn’t allowed to take NEWT-level potions.

 

“He was so critical of Annabel Entwhistle’s work that she burst into tears,” Heather explained.

 

“And then Audrey pulled her aside to her a pep-talk while Percy defended her,” Felicity said.

 

“She hadn’t done anything wrong,” Percy said, ire rising at remembering what Snape said. It wasn’t accurate at all. He usually refused to criticize professors to their face, but Snape made him snap this time. “She wanted my opinion whether I considered her potion fuchsia or magenta. Most of us in class know that she has a form of colorblindness, so I didn’t mind helping her.”

 

Felicity jumped in, “Then out of nowhere, Snape started criticizing that ‘She shouldn’t rely on smarter people to do the work for her’ and then some of the Slytherins just started going at her and laughing. They called her a mudblood too. It was awful. That’s when she started crying. And then Percy came to her defense that’s she’s bloody colorblind and she had done her all her work correctly and just needed conformation. And us and the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws backed him up.”

 

“And then when Snape threatened everyone with detention for speaking out and questioning him, Percy threatened him back that he would tell Dumbledore that Snape mocked a student for her disability and refused to punish students in his own house for bullying her. And that he had plenty of witnesses- including the Head Girl- to back him up on that. And Snape _backed down._ It was awesome,” Heather said.

 

Oliver looked gob smacked. “That’s amazing, Percy!” he said with awe.

 

Percy shrugged. He was uncomfortable with his type of attention for speaking back to a teacher. He felt it didn’t set a good example for younger students. But it had seemed right at the time. “It was nothing. He was not being fair to her. Besides, what’s being called a blood traitor another time going to do to me?” He always believed his family was right on protecting muggle-borns, so he didn’t care. “Felicity, we really need to go.”

 

“Yes sir,” Felicity said with a hint of sarcasm. She turned back to Oliver and Heather. “I better see you at the study session!”

 

Given the upcoming NEWTs, all of the seventh-year Gryffindors showed up. There were also quite a few fifth-years in attendance. Not Fred and George though. Percy noticed they headed straight to their dorm room when they entered through the portrait, seemingly smuggling something in, but Percy decided not to do anything until something actually happened. As he knew from experience, calling them out on it immediately might make it worse. Hermione dragged Harry and Ron there, but after a while the two boys went into a corner to play exploding snap. At one point, Ginny asked him to help her revise an essay for Potions. It was a busy night.

 

Occasionally, Percy would observe Oliver. Most times, Oliver was assisting younger students. Percy overheard Oliver giving Neville Longbottom a much-needed pep talk about his magic skills. The other times Percy looked over, Oliver was working on his own things. Contrary to popular belief, Oliver wasn’t stupid. Quidditch-obsessed, sure, but not stupid.

 

As far as he could tell, Oliver wasn’t “gazing wistfully” at any girls in the room. Not Heather. Not Amanda. Not Jaya. And they never looked at him. There were some girls looking at Oliver, but most of them were silly, younger girls in the throes of their first crushes. Sometimes he and Oliver caught eyes and Oliver smiled at him before he went back to what he was doing. Those smiles made Percy feel a small fluttering in his stomach.

 

Percy was beginning to doubt what his brothers’ said. Why was he considering what the twins said in the first place? They lied or were wrong all the time. Besides, why did it matter if Oliver had a crush or not? It shouldn’t matter to Percy. But the idea still bothered him for some reason.

 

Oliver was one of his closest friends. Was he bothered that Oliver having a girlfriend might create distance between them? Maybe. But something didn’t fully sit right about that. He wondered if this was how Oliver felt when he was dating Penny.

 

After a couple hours in, most of Gryffindors decided they had enough studying for the night. Some groups separated into their own corners. Fred and George had gathered a couple people, including Angelina, Katie, and Alicia, to have some sort of party in their room. Percy figured as long as they kept it relatively quiet and there weren’t any explosions, he would let them be; the school year had been rough for all of them. Other people just went to their own rooms.

 

Percy and Felicity stayed behind to clean up the food and drinks littering the common room.

 

“I think that went well,” Felicity said, stopping to pull back her braids with a scrunchie, “At least there were no fires or structural damage.”

 

Percy nodded in agreement.

 

“Are you OK? You usually have something to say.”

 

Percy stopped for a moment. Felicity was as good as any to talk about this. She was observant and didn’t gossip that much. He sat on one of the armchairs and said, “I occasionally looked at Oliver through the night and I don’t get what my brothers were saying about him having a crush. He didn’t look at any girl.”

 

Much to his surprise, Felicity started laughing.

 

“What is so funny?” he asked.

 

“You,” she said as she sat on one of the sofas near where Percy was sitting. Percy furrowed his brows at her and she sighed. “First of all, he doesn’t have to be interested in a Gryffindor-“

 

“Only Gryffindors or invited guests are allowed to attend Gryffindor Quidditch practices. Oliver is strict about that.”

 

“True. But more importantly, have you considered that Oliver might not be interested in women?”

 

Percy opened his mouth as if to speak, but shut it quickly. He _hadn’t_ considered that. But it did somewhat make sense: despite having many female followers, Oliver didn’t date or flirt with any of them. At one point, Penny had tried to set Oliver up with one of the Ravenclaw chasers- a girl named Karen- to go on a double-date with them to Hogsmeade, but Oliver declined. Percy either hadn’t thought of it before or had just brushed it off as Oliver’s one-track mind.

 

“Now, I’m not saying for sure he is interested in men,” Felicity said, “but I’ve had a feeling about him for a while. And as someone who _is_ gay, I like to think I have good intuition about this sort of stuff.”

 

“Oh,” Percy said. They sat in silence for a moment. Then, Percy took a deep-breath. He wanted to ask Felicity something but he wasn’t sure if he was brave enough to ask. However, he decided to just go for it. “Can I ask you a question?” Percy asked.

 

“We’re already talking aren’t we?”

 

“How, um, how do you know if you are interested in- maybe the better word is attracted to- people of the same gender?”

 

“It’s hard to say,” Felicity said, “Because my experience will be different from anyone else’s, especially because sexuality isn’t just gay and straight. There’s a whole lot of things in between and even outside of that. But for me, personally? When Jaya and Amanda and Heather started about the crushes they had on boys in, like, third year, I couldn’t see it. Like I had an understanding that some boys were objectively “attractive” because they didn’t have like zits covering every pore, but I didn’t have any fantasies about going to Hogsmeade or marrying them or whatever. And then, I noticed myself fantasizing about certain girls: what it would be like to go on a date with them, to snog them, you know, and that’s how I knew. But that’s just my experience. If you’d ask Audrey, for instance, she will have a completely different answer because she’s interested in both boys and girls. She told me it was confusing for her at first. But fantasizing might be a sign, like what it would be like to kiss a boy, especially specific boys. Jealousy of other boys in relationships when you know you don’t like the girl could be a sign. Even questioning your sexuality in the first place might be a sign. It really depends on the person. Does that help?”

 

Percy nodded. A light did go off when she was talking. He could at least admit to himself that those pangs he got earlier in the day probably meant he was interested in Oliver. He didn’t know why he didn’t see it before. Before he started dating Penny, he did notice how attractive Oliver was. He even fantasized about what it would be like to trace all of Oliver’s muscles with his fingers. At the time, he tried to brush off his blushing as admiration in Oliver’s physical skill, but he could now acknowledge it was sexual attraction. There were other men he admired too: mainly men on the cover of _Quidditch Weekly_ and friends of his older brothers.

 

“Can I ask you another question?” Percy asked.

 

“Sure.”

 

“Are you and Audrey in a relationship? I’ve been getting hints about that today and I am not sure if I’m reading those wrong.”

 

Felicity sighed and folded her arms. “You’re bloody nosy today,” she muttered, but straightened up to explain. “No, we aren’t. I want to be, but no.”

 

“Have you asked her out on a date?”

 

“No. It’s complicated. She’s one of my closest friends and yeah…”

 

“Well, by my calculations we do not have much time here left. What do you have to lose?”

 

“Ok Weasley, I’ll think about it, but you should follow your own advice,” Felicity teased as she stood up.

 

“I never admitted to anything!” Percy defended.

 

“Yeah, but I’m better at reading people than you,” she tossed back over her shoulder as she walked towards the staircase to the dorm rooms, “Good night, Percy! And good luck!” With that, she was gone.

 

Percy had some things to think about.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


	3. Oliver and Percy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two stupid boys figure things out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments! And thanks for your patience waiting! Without further ado, the end.

Oliver Wood was sitting on his bed reading _Quidditch Through the Ages_ for certainly the hundredth time when Percy finally came back into their dormitory. He seemed to be moving slowly and in a slight daze.

 

“Hey,” Oliver greeted.

 

“Hello,” Percy replied.

 

“You OK?” Oliver asked as he watched Percy sit on his own bed and begin to carefully remove his shoes.

 

“Fine,” Percy said, “Just tired.”

 

“All right,” Oliver said, still not entirely convinced. He put his book aside. “Thanks for hosting that study session tonight. It really helped.”

 

Percy looked up and smiled softly at him. “Thank you. I’m glad someone appreciated it.” He got up and started collecting his shower supplies. “I’m going to shower.”

 

“Have fun,” Oliver said as he picked up his book again. _‘Have fun? What on earth is your problem, Wood?’_ he mentally kicked himself.

 

Seventh year didn’t stop his crush on Percy. In fact, it probably made it worse. He got to watch Percy be more protective of his family and other students. Sometimes Percy was more buttoned-up, which was cute, but other times the stress of everything made Percy forget his decorum and that was even better. He’d forget to get his hair trimmed, so his beautiful curls were more prominent. He was more likely to slip into one of his oversized sweaters as a comfort. During an argument or a class or private discussion, his passions would occasionally slip through and Oliver would see that spark in his eye that people rarely saw. He liked how much Percy earnestly believed the government’s purpose was to help everyone. Percy would also help him get through the tough moments in Quidditch, especially their hard loss to Hufflepuff. Like normal, he’d force Oliver to eat on game days; Oliver would do the same to him on big exam days or days of intense studying when Percy would forget to eat.

 

Percy came back about 10 minutes later, freshly showered and already wearing pajama bottoms. Oliver tried not to stare at his bare chest. Percy usually stayed fairly covered up, so any extra skin he saw was a rarity.

 

“Remind me to talk to Felicity about getting a hair cut soon,” Percy said as he grabbed an undershirt to wear, “You should probably get one too. Your hair is starting to get into your eyes.”  For either a Galleon or a favor of her choice, Felicity- whose father was a Muggle barber- starting cutting their hair in third year after a botched charm on a magical pair of scissors gave them patchy, lopsided haircuts.

 

Percy sat on his bed. Oliver watched as a thought clearly crossed his face. “That reminds me, guess what Felicity just told me?” he said.

 

Oliver decided to play along. He knew it would probably be something boring, but he enjoyed joking with Percy too much. “She somehow has tickets to the Quidditch World Cup and is so kindly bringing us along this summer?” Oliver said.

 

“Nice guess,” Percy deadpanned. “Try again.”

 

“Snape has finally discovered shampoo?”

 

“That day will happen when the gnomes in the garden learn to fly. One more try.”

 

“Sprout and Pomfrey have been secretly married for the last five years?”

 

“No. She told me she has a crush on Audrey.”

 

_‘Percy Weasley participating in gossip? How unlike him’._ “That would be a true Hogwarts power couple,” Oliver said, “You and Penny better watch out.”

 

Percy paled. Well, as much as he could, given his already pale as snow skin. “We actually broke up a few week ago,” he said.

 

Oliver couldn’t tell if he was confused or elated. Probably a mix of both. “Wait, what?” Oliver asked. “What happened? Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

Percy shrugged. “We kind of grew apart. She said I was distant, which maybe I was with the whole Sirius Black…issue. And there were just little things that proved that we weren’t meant to be romantically. She’s one of those ‘organized mess’ people and I can’t deal with that. Amongst other things” Oliver could understand that about Percy. Their dorm room was spotless. In fact, most people who enter were alarmed by the cleanliness. What two teenage boys lived in an organized room? Occasionally, sneakers would be thrown on the ground and the beds wouldn’t be made, but that was about it. Everyone assumed that as a sportsman, Oliver would be disorganized, but that wasn’t the case. He took too much care in his belongs to let them sit on the floor for hours.

 

“Huh,” Oliver said, “I guess that makes sense. Sorry mate.”

 

“It’s fine, but thank you.”

 

“Why didn’t tell me though?”

 

“I don’t know,” Percy sighed. “You never exactly seemed interested in my relationship with Penny, I guess? It slipped my mind with the other things happening?”

 

“I’m sorry if I made you feel that way,” Oliver said. “I don’t want to be a bad friend.”

 

“No, it’s fine,” Percy waved him off. “I never offered the information anyway.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Of course.” Percy looked down at his feet for a moment and then looked up. Oliver noticed he looked almost vulnerable. “Can I tell you a secret?”

 

_‘What secret could Percy have?’_ Oliver wondered. He smiled in a way he hoped was reassuring and said, “Sure.”

 

Percy walked over to Oliver’s bed and sat down next to him, but didn’t look at him. They sat in silence for a moment. Oliver wasn’t going to push Percy.   Then, Percy took a breath and looked up.

 

“I think I…I think I like men,” Percy said, then added, “In addition to women.”

 

Oliver’s heart stopped beating for a moment. He didn’t know what to say, but he was so happy. Percy _was_ like him. That meant he stood a chance- however small- with him.

 

Percy looked concerned. “Forget it. I shouldn’t have-“

 

“I like men too!” Oliver blurted out.

 

Percy stared at him with wide eyes. “Oh.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

That sat in silence for a moment, unsure about how to continue. Oliver wondered if he should mention his crush. Or should he keep quiet about that? It probably wouldn’t be the best idea… Should he ask about Percy’s type? Does Percy even have a type?

 

Percy broke the silence. “How lo-“

 

A loud rapping at the door interrupted Percy. Both boys stood up alert. Sirius Black still hadn’t been caught yet.

 

“Percy! Percy! Percy! Open up!” the unmistakable voice of Ron Weasley came from behind the door.

 

Percy quickly ran over to the door and opened it, wand at the ready. Oliver tensed up, ready to help at a moment’s notice.

 

Instead of any emergency behind the door, there were five very disgruntled third year boys with long, vibrant-colored beards. Percy calmly lowered his wand and Oliver relaxed.

 

“What on Earth happened?” Percy asked.

 

“Fred and George did something!” Ron said.

 

“I think he figured as much,” Harry quipped.

 

Dean seemed more willing to give an actual explanation. “Seamus shared some Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans with us and the next thing we knew, we were all growing these weird beards.”

 

“You have to help us Perce!” Ron complained.

 

“My ma will kill me if she sees this,” Seamus muttered to Neville.

 

Oliver watched as Percy pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I should have asked what they were doing,” he muttered, mainly to himself. He then straightened back to Head Boy mode. “All right, gentlemen, let’s see if we can solve this problem.” He ushered the five boys down the stairs, but still gave Oliver a wistful look over his shoulder.

 

Once they were gone, Oliver flopped onto his bed and groaned. He was screwed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_Leave it to Fred and George to ruin a moment_.

 

Percy wondered what he did to have his brothers constantly making a mess of his life. While he loved them, there were times where he considered a good hex to make a point.

 

Fortunately, the beard issue was solved rather quickly. Well, rather quickly after Percy threatened to make sure that got a detention during the final Quidditch match of the season. It was a bluff. Percy knew Oliver would kill him if he actually did it and Percy wanted a win as much as anyone else in Gryffindor. Fred and George tried to call him on his bluff, claiming that McGonagall would never let him do that, but Percy nonchalantly threatened them with detention with Pince in the library. That one actually worked. _No one_ wanted detention with Pince; she was more exacting in her orders than Snape, Filch, or McGonagall. They handed over the antidote jelly beans.

 

When he got back, Oliver greeted him cheerfully, but didn’t return to their conversation. The moment was officially lost. Percy wondered what would have happened if they hadn’t been interrupted. Would anything have happened? He doubted he would have admitted his attraction so soon, but he didn’t know what Oliver would have said. Could Oliver even be attracted to Percy? While he highly doubted it, Percy knew stranger things had happened- his sister being controlled by the dark lord, for example.

 

Things went back to “normal” after that. Well, their normal. If you asked around Hogwarts, most students would consider Oliver and Percy’s obsessive study routines odd. Percy focused on NEWTs while Oliver mainly focused on the Quidditch finals. He seemed to believe that he could study for NEWTs after the cup was done. Occasionally, Percy forced him to actually study his schoolwork, lest the rest of the Quidditch team collapse from exhaustion or turn on Oliver and kill him. Both of those options seemed equally likely because Oliver made them practice every spare moment they had. Even Fred and George seemed too exhausted to joke around.

 

The only different thing about Percy and Oliver’s relationship was that Oliver would occasionally mention men he found attractive or ask Percy his opinions. Percy did not know what to fully make of it. He assumed that Oliver felt liberated to talk about things he hadn’t been given the opportunity to talk about before. There was definitely something freeing about that.

 

Percy didn’t have the opportunity to discuss his thoughts with anyone else until dinner one night. Percy, Oliver, Felicity, and Audrey sat together at the Gryffindor table with no one else around them, whether because it was still early or because no one wanted to sit with a bunch of stressed-out seventh years was debatable.

 

At one point early on in the conversation, Felicity groaned and hid her face in her hands. “I can’t talk about classes any longer,” she mumbled, “Someone please bring up _anything_ else.”

 

“Did anyone hear about Apollo Whisp of Stardance?” Audrey asked. Stardance was a wizarding pop band that was popular with young wizards not into the rock music that The Weird Sisters offered. They were often glamorous and danceable, but had deep, poetry-like lyrics. It comprised of three people: siblings Apollo and Artemis Whisp and their cousin Flynn Morningstar. Percy and Oliver often listened to them in their room.

 

“What about him?” Oliver asked.

 

“Rumor has it, he’s dating Thor Plumpton of the Pride of Portree. It was in _Magical Music Monthly_.”

 

“Really?” Felicity asked.

 

“I can’t tell who I’m more jealous of. Probably Thor.” Oliver joked. He turned to Percy and smiled at him. “Perce, who would you want to date more: Apollo or Thor?”

 

“Oh, um, I guess Thor is more my type,” Percy said, “He’s attractive.”

 

“Huh,” Oliver said with a shy smile. He looked at his watch and stood up. “I have to go to practice, see you guys later.”

 

As soon as Oliver was out of earshot, Felicity turned to Percy. “You’re an idiot,” she said.

 

“What? Why?” Percy asked confused.

 

“Oliver _likes_ you,” Audrey squealed.

 

“No…” Percy protested.

 

“That question he just asked you was a leading one,” Felicity explained. “He wanted to know if he was your type. He’s built more like Thor Plumpton than Apollo.”

 

“And he was looking at you all throughout dinner, especially when he asked that question,” Audrey said.

 

“Like a puppy,” Felicity added.

 

“Really?” Percy asked in disbelief. He had no reason _not_ to believe either girl though.

 

“He’s been mooning after you for a while, I think,” Audrey said.

 

“Oh, yeah, I noticed last year. He sometimes looks at you like he looks at a Quidditch pitch or something,” Felicity said.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Percy asked.

 

“It wasn’t my business,” Felicity said, “Besides, I don’t know if he was out. I definitely didn’t know for sure if you were even interested in men until like two weeks ago.”

 

Percy thought for a moment. “What should I do?” he asked.

 

“Do you like him?” Audrey asked.

 

Percy nodded.

 

“Then just tell him,” Audrey said.

 

“But how?”

 

“How did you ask out Penny?” Felicity asked.

 

“I just asked her after class,” Percy said simply.

 

“Oh my god,” Felicity groaned into her hands, “There’s your answer.”

 

“But there’s more riding on this,” Percy argued. While Penny was another prefect and somewhat of a friend before asking her out, Oliver was his best friend. He didn’t want to jeopardize that.

 

“That’s true,” Audrey conceded, “But aren’t you a Gryffindor? And you know he’s probably interested in you.”

 

“And we can drop some hints,” Felicity said.

 

“Fine. I’ll think about it,” Percy said, “Now can we stop talking about it?”

 

Felicity and Audrey looked at each other, then at Percy.

 

“No.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was finally the day of the big Quidditch game. Who would take home the cup: Gryffindor or Slytherin?

 

That morning, Percy sat on his bed, already fully dressed in Gryffindor attire, idly skimming the previous day’s Daily Prophet.

 

“I can’t believe it’s my last Quidditch match at Hogwarts,” Oliver said to Percy while getting dressed in his uniform. He was thrumming with energy. Percy couldn’t tell if he was excited, nervous, or sad. Probably a mix.

 

“You’ll do great,” Percy said looking up, giving his friend a reassuring smile. He sincerely meant it; Oliver was a great player. “But don’t forget to eat breakfast.”

 

“I’m too nervous to eat,” Oliver said.

 

“Food gives you energy and you’ll need all the energy you can get. You don’t want to pass out on your broom. Eat at least some porridge or something at breakfast.”

 

Oliver rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “All right, I’ll eat some porridge.”

 

Percy sat in silence while Oliver finished dressing. Eventually, Oliver turned to him.

 

“How do I look?” He did an awkward little turn. Percy appraised him silently. He looked handsome, of course. Something wrong caught his eye, however.

 

“Your left arm guard isn’t buckled right,” Percy said walking over to Oliver, “Here let me fix it.”

 

Oliver offered Percy his arm. As Percy gingerly fixed the buckle, Oliver held his breath, watching. Once Percy was done, he slid his right hand from Oliver’s forearm to hold his hand. Both men looked at their intertwined hands. Then they slowly looked up.

 

“Perce, I-“

 

Percy suddenly leaned further in and kissed Oliver’s cheek. “Good luck out there,” he said.

 

Oliver stared wide-eyed at Percy. His brain stopped working.

 

A worried look crossed Percy’s face. He tried to turn away from Oliver. “I’m sorry-“

 

Oliver wouldn’t let go. “Percy! It’s all right!” Percy stopped, unsure of what was happening, but didn’t turn back to look at Oliver. “I, um, I think I might have better luck if you kissed me again,” Oliver said softly.

 

Percy turned back to look at Oliver. He looked earnest with his big puppy dog eyes. He took the few steps to be back in Oliver’s space. They stared at each other for a moment before leaning in.

 

The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it meant everything for them. Percy was surprised how soft Oliver’s lips were. Oliver tried not to smile into the kiss, but he was definitely smiling when they separated. Percy was smiling too. He leaned his forehead on Oliver’s, making his glasses awkwardly bump into Oliver’s face.

 

“Do you feel luckier now?” Percy whispered.

 

Oliver gave a small breathless laugh. “A bit, yeah,” he said, “But I could use a little more.” He cupped Percy’s cheek with his left hand and gave him another small kiss. Percy was tempted to turn the chaste kiss into a proper snog, but knew they only had a short amount of time until the match.

 

“As much as I want to continue this,” Percy said, “You need to eat and get everyone ready for the game.”

 

Oliver blushed. “I guess you’re right,” he said teasingly. He gave Percy a kiss on the cheek. “But we _are_ going to continue this,” he said, pointing a finger at Percy.

 

“You have to win first.”

 

Oliver barked out a laugh. “I’ll take that as an order.”

 

Percy jokingly rolled his eyes and stepped away to hand Oliver his broom.

 

“But seriously,” Oliver said, “Will you cheer for me?”

 

“I’ll be the loudest one,” Percy said.

 

A wide grin spread across Oliver’s face. He offered Percy his hand. “To the Great Hall?”

 

Percy took it and smiled. “To victory.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to try to write jealous Percy, but I wanted to get this out.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


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